SC Inland Port Dillon: Insurance Gaps Carriers Miss

Most carriers running northeast South Carolina think of their coverage the same way they think about any over-the-road haul: primary liability, cargo, physical damage, done. Then they take a drayage load out of Inland Port Dillon and find out, usually after something goes wrong, that intermodal operations work differently. The coverage rules change when rail is involved, and the policies that protect a standard OTR run do not automatically transfer to a rail-truck move. Here is what carriers need to know before they pull their first container out of Dillon.

What the Inland Port Dillon Actually Is

The SC Ports Authority Inland Port Dillon overview describes the facility as a CSX-connected intermodal terminal that lets shippers move containers between the Port of Charleston and northeast South Carolina without a truck running the full coastal distance. Containers arrive by rail, get lifted onto chassis, and leave by truck. The same thing happens in reverse. For shippers in the I-95 corridor north of Florence, it cuts transit time and cost. For carriers, it opens a freight lane that did not exist before the port opened.

The facility sits near Dillon, SC, just off I-95, which means it pulls freight from the tobacco and agricultural markets in the Pee Dee region, distribution operations along I-95, and cross-border commercial traffic moving between the Carolinas and the northeast. Carriers who run Charleston drayage, Greer drayage, or general I-95 freight often get recruited into Dillon work because the geography is familiar. The insurance rules are not the same, though, and that gap catches operators who do not ask the right questions before signing on.

If you are already running trucking & transportation in South Carolina, adding Dillon drayage is a natural expansion. It becomes a problem when you assume your existing policy covers the new operation without verifying how your carrier handles rail-connected intermodal work.

Where Cargo Coverage Breaks Down on Intermodal Moves

Standard motor truck cargo policies are written around a simple premise: your truck picks up freight, hauls it, and delivers it. You are in custody of the cargo the whole time. Intermodal moves do not work that way. The freight spends time in rail custody, time on a chassis at the terminal, and time on your truck. The handoffs between those stages are exactly where cargo claims land and where standard policies often do not respond the way carriers expect.

The core problem is the intermodal gap. Most motor truck cargo policies cover freight from the moment the driver takes possession until delivery. What they often do not cover, or cover with serious limitations, is any loss that occurs while the container is in rail custody, while it is sitting on a terminal, or while liability is disputed between the railroad, the terminal operator, and the trucking company. If a container arrives at Dillon with damage that originated on the rail leg, your cargo policy may exclude it entirely. If the damage occurs during the lift-on or lift-off at the terminal, coverage depends on how your policy defines your custody period.

Some policies include intermodal coverage endorsements that close this gap. Many do not. The standard ISO motor truck cargo form was not built for rail-truck moves, and most small carriers never ask their agent whether their policy has been endorsed to address it. They find out during a claim, which is the worst possible time.

For carriers operating in freight brokerage or logistics arrangements that feed the Dillon terminal, the exposure compounds. A broker arranging a drayage move has its own liability questions around how cargo coverage stacks with the underlying carrier's policy. Getting that sorted before a load moves is the job. Freight & logistics in South Carolina coverage needs to account for where the rail leg ends and the truck leg begins, and most policies need to be specifically structured to do that.

Trailer Interchange Agreements and Why They Bite Small Fleets

Drayage at intermodal facilities almost always involves equipment the carrier does not own. You show up, get assigned a chassis, move the container, return the chassis. That transaction seems simple. The insurance question it creates is not.

Trailer interchange insurance covers physical damage to non-owned trailers and chassis when you are operating them under a written interchange agreement. Physical damage on your own equipment is covered under your standard policy. Physical damage on a chassis you signed out from a pool at Dillon is not, unless you have trailer interchange coverage in place. The FMCSA regulations on trailer interchange agreements establish the legal framework for these arrangements, and the liability exposure is real. If you damage or lose a chassis that belongs to a rail company or chassis pool operator, you are on the hook for repair or replacement costs. Without the right endorsement, that bill comes out of pocket.

Small fleets get caught here more than large operations because the chassis assignment at Dillon can feel informal. You sign a gate document, you leave with the equipment, and you return it when the job is done. Nobody hands you an insurance checklist at the gate. The terminal expects you to already have the right coverage. If you do not, you will not know until something breaks.

The specific endorsement to ask for is a trailer interchange endorsement attached to your physical damage policy. Some carriers write it as a separate stand-alone form. Make sure the limit is high enough to cover the actual replacement value of a chassis, not a minimum that made sense on a form fifteen years ago. The terminal operator or chassis pool may also require proof of trailer interchange coverage before they assign equipment to you, so this is not just a risk management issue. It is a contractual requirement in many drayage agreements.

Liability Exposure on the US-301 and I-95 Approach Routes

The routes feeding Inland Port Dillon are not forgiving from an underwriting perspective. US-301 runs through the Dillon area and carries a mix of local traffic, agricultural equipment, and heavy commercial vehicles. I-95 is one of the highest-volume freight corridors on the East Coast. The combination of local two-lane connectors and high-speed interstate creates the kind of accident exposure that underwriters look at carefully when they price drayage work in northeast SC.

Underwriters pull loss data by route and by facility type. Intermodal drayage near busy terminals has a worse loss history than standard OTR work because of the density of moves, the inexperience some carriers bring to the chassis-handling operation, and the road conditions on the approach routes. Dillon County roads connecting the terminal to I-95 were not built for the volume of heavy commercial traffic the port generates. That shows up in claims, and claims show up in premiums.

For carriers operating south toward Horry County on I-95, the liability picture gets more complicated. Personal injury litigation rates in coastal SC are among the highest in the state, and trucking accident cases in that corridor draw attorneys who specialize in large commercial vehicle claims. Horry County truck insurance considerations are worth understanding if your Dillon drayage routes take you south toward Conway or Myrtle Beach.

The SC DOT commercial vehicle regulations also matter here. Weight limits on secondary routes near Dillon are enforced, and an overweight citation creates a compliance record that affects your next renewal. Carriers who are not familiar with SC DOT weight restrictions on the approach roads to the terminal are running a risk that is easy to avoid with a five-minute conversation before the first load.

A concrete example: a single-truck operator based in Florence takes his first drayage assignment at Dillon, returns a loaded container south on US-301, merges onto I-95, and gets rear-ended by a four-wheeler in the construction zone near the I-95 and US-76 interchange. His liability policy covers the claim. The litigation drags out for two years because the plaintiff's attorney argues the driver was operating unfamiliar equipment on a route with documented construction hazards. His renewal underwriter asks detailed questions about the drayage operation that were never asked when he was just running flatbed OTR. If his broker does not know how to answer those questions, the renewal goes sideways.

How Underwriters Price Dillon-Area Drayage Differently

Drayage is a separate risk class from over-the-road trucking, and underwriters treat it that way. The short-haul, high-frequency nature of drayage means more moves, more gate transactions, more chassis handoffs, and more opportunities for something to go wrong. Underwriters also know that drayage drivers often operate equipment they do not own on routes they run dozens of times a week, which creates both familiarity and complacency as risk factors.

When you add the intermodal component at Dillon, the pricing factors multiply. Rail-connected facilities have specific liability questions around terminal operations, chassis condition disputes, and cargo claim allocation between rail and truck legs. Underwriters who are not familiar with inland port operations may simply decline to quote or add broad exclusions rather than price the risk accurately. That is not good for the carrier.

What helps is documentation. A carrier who can show a clean MVR history, a safety management system, a documented pre-trip inspection process for non-owned chassis, and a clear understanding of which loads are drayage versus OTR gives an underwriter something to work with. Contracts with the terminal or chassis pool that define your custody period also matter. The more clearly you can show where your liability starts and stops, the more accurately a competent underwriter can price it.

Carriers who have run Greer or Charleston drayage before and can show that history are in a better position than a carrier entering intermodal drayage cold. If Dillon is your first intermodal facility, be transparent about that with your agent and make sure you are placed with an underwriter who actually writes drayage, not one who writes OTR and agreed to add a drayage endorsement as a favor.

Coverage Checklist Before You Pull a Load from Dillon

Before you accept intermodal drayage work at SC Inland Port Dillon, go through this list with your agent. Do not assume any of these are in place. Ask for confirmation in writing.

Policy and Endorsement Verification

• Primary liability: Confirm your limit meets the requirements in the drayage contract. Many terminal operators require limits above the FMCSA minimum.
• Motor truck cargo with intermodal endorsement: Verify the policy covers cargo from the point you take custody at the terminal, and that it does not exclude losses that originate in rail custody but are discovered during your leg.
• Trailer interchange coverage: Confirm the endorsement is in place and that the limit covers the replacement value of the chassis types assigned at Dillon. Get the limit in writing.
• Non-owned trailer physical damage: If trailer interchange is not available, confirm whether your policy includes any protection for non-owned equipment. Most do not without a specific endorsement.
• Bobtail or deadhead coverage: If you are repositioning between the terminal and your base without a load, confirm your policy covers that segment. It is a common gap.
• Pollution liability endorsement: Some cargo carried through intermodal terminals includes materials that trigger pollution exclusions on standard policies. Know what you are hauling and whether it requires additional coverage.

Certificate and Contract Requirements

• Request a copy of the drayage or interchange agreement before signing. Read the insurance requirements section before you agree to anything.
• Confirm which parties need to be listed as additional insureds on your certificate of insurance. Terminal operators, chassis pool operators, and freight brokers may all require it.
• Verify that your insurer can issue certificates quickly. Terminal operators often require proof of coverage before each move or at least at the start of each new contract period.

Review our commercial coverage options to understand what endorsements are available and which ones apply to your operation before your first Dillon load.

Getting the Right Policy for Dillon Drayage

The carriers who get burned on Dillon drayage coverage almost always have the same story. They had a policy that worked fine for what they were doing before. Nobody told them the new operation required a different approach. They found out the hard way.

At TB Insurance Group, we have spent over fourteen years working inside the trucking industry, not just selling to it. We know what a terminal gate document looks like, what a chassis pool agreement requires, and how underwriters categorize intermodal drayage versus standard OTR. When a carrier comes to us about Dillon work, the first thing we do is read the contracts before we build a policy. The coverage follows the operation, not the other way around.

For South Carolina carriers, that means working with underwriters who understand inland port operations at both Dillon and Greer, who know the I-95 approach corridor exposure, and who will not apply a generic drayage exclusion because they do not want to price the risk carefully. We have relationships with more than 25 carriers, and not all of them write intermodal drayage. The ones who do it well are not the same ones who write standard OTR. Knowing the difference is part of what we bring.

If you are already running loads in northeast SC or considering Dillon drayage for the first time, a policy review before you start is far cheaper than a coverage gap after a claim. Get a coverage review and bring your current dec pages, any drayage contracts you have been offered, and your loss history. We will tell you exactly what you have, what you need, and where the gaps are.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does standard motor truck cargo insurance cover intermodal drayage at SC Inland Port Dillon?

Not automatically. Standard motor truck cargo policies are written around truck-only hauls where the driver holds custody from pickup to delivery. At Dillon, freight moves through rail custody, terminal handling, and truck legs. Losses that occur during the rail segment or during terminal lift operations often fall outside the standard ISO cargo form. Carriers need to verify whether their policy includes an intermodal endorsement before accepting drayage work at Dillon.

What is the intermodal gap and why does it matter for Dillon drayage carriers?

The intermodal gap refers to the period when a container is in rail custody or sitting on a terminal chassis and no single party's policy clearly responds to a cargo claim. When damage is disputed between the railroad, terminal operator, and trucking company, a standard cargo policy may deny the claim entirely. Carriers running Dillon drayage without an intermodal endorsement can be left absorbing losses that a properly structured policy would have covered.

Do I need separate trucking insurance if I add Dillon drayage to an existing South Carolina trucking policy?

Not necessarily a separate policy, but almost certainly an endorsement or policy modification. Your existing primary liability, cargo, and physical damage coverage may not be rated or endorsed for intermodal operations. The chassis you operate at Dillon may also require its own coverage arrangement depending on who owns it. Before your first container move out of Dillon, have your agent confirm in writing how your policy responds to rail-connected intermodal work.